McCrory demands Perdue pull garbage ad

CHARLOTTE -- The latest issue in North Carolina's governor's race is garbage.

Republican Pat McCrory demanded Monday that Democratic rival Bev Perdue remove a new TV ad he called misleading and deceptive. The ad shows trash-filled barges in New York harbor as an announcer says, "It's trash day in New York City. What will they do with all that garbage?...

"McCrory wants to let New York and New Jersey dump their garbage in North Carolina."

Speaking to hundreds of delegates at the N.C. League of Municipalities convention in Charlotte, McCrory said the ad "trashes not only me about garbage but you."

"You know and I know the ad is deception," he told the city and town officials from across North Carolina.

McCrory has said he would have vetoed the 2007 Solid Waste Management Act. The act, favored by environmentalists, would have restricted the location of new landfills in North Carolina. It was spurred by concerns that private regional landfills would turn the state into one of the country's top five importers of trash.

One landfill, proposed for rural northeastern North Carolina, would have buried up to 3 million tons of trash every year.

That would create a mountain 270 feet high.

The bill also included new taxes on municipalities. One version carried a charge of $2.50 per ton of trash and construction debris. McCrory opposed the bill, as did the League of Municipalities.

"We feel it was unfairly targeted at municipal residents, because the lion's share of that solid waste disposal tax would be levied against municipalities," said executive director Ellis Hankins, who said he hasn't seen the ad.

Hankins said the league eventually endorsed a different version of the bill. The dumping fee to municipalities was later reduced.

McCrory spoke during the league's afternoon candidate forum. Perdue, citing scheduling conflicts, spoke to the group in the morning. Asked later about the ad, she pointed to comments McCrory made to a reporter in August. Asked for examples of the bills he would have vetoed as governor, he cited the waste legislation.

"I would have vetoed this bill for several reasons," he said in August, "including the fact that it cost North Carolinians jobs, hurt our economy and raised taxes. The legislation takes authority away from local government and places unfunded mandates on local officials."

Said Perdue spokesman Dave Kochman: "[McCrory] thinks the 270-foot high landfills are the way to create jobs and grow the economy. Bev Perdue does not.”